The New F-gas Certification — Upcoming Changes and the Market Outlook

The New F-gas Certification — Upcoming Changes and the Market Outlook

Joanna Ryńska

The requirements for competence in the refrigeration, air-conditioning, and heat-pump industry on the European market are changing along with technology and new regulations. Everyone who currently holds an F-gas certificate for personnel will have to update their credentials, while new adepts of the HVACR craft will obtain personnel certificates under new rules. How and when — this issue is still a source of ambiguity and false information, and even a field for abuse.

Under EU Regulation 2024/573 on fluorinated greenhouse gases (the F-gas Regulation) [1], F-gas certificates for personnel require updating by 12 March 2029. The essence of the procedure is to confirm the certificate holder’s qualifications also with regard to alternative refrigerants: flammable ones (certificates A1 and A2, differentiated according to the charge size of the equipment), carbon dioxide (certificate B), and ammonia (certificate C). The F-gas Regulation provides that this update may take place through participation in a refresher training course or by undergoing a re-assessment procedure. Determining the rules for updating certificates (refresher training, examination, or both tasks) lies within the remit of each member state. The second important matter concerns the validity period of personnel certificates — they will be valid for 7 years, and extending a certificate’s validity will likewise take place through refresher training or an examination [1, 2].

When will it be possible to update a certificate or extend its validity?

For the “new” certification system — that is, one based on EU Regulation 2024/573 and the relevant EU implementing regulations — to take effect in Poland, the following successive legal steps are necessary:

• the entry into force of the Polish act implementing the provisions of Regulation 2024/573, i.e. the F-gas Act [3]. The act is the basis for designating the certifying body;
• the establishment or adjustment by the certifying body of a certification programme — compliant with Implementing Regulation 2024/2225 — and notification of the European Commission about this programme [2];
• the entry into force of the Polish regulation (implementing legal act) setting out the rules for examining and certifying personnel, as the successor to the regulation [4].

At present (May 2026), the draft amendment to the act has not yet been published (so we are still before the first legal step). According to information provided by the Ministry of Climate and Environment, the draft amendment should be submitted for public consultation as early as Q2 2026, the legislative process should conclude by the end of 2026, and thus the new certification system should take effect at the end of 2027.

Until then, the certification system based on the earlier F-gas Regulation (i.e. EU Regulation No. 517/2014) [5], the F-gas Act [3], and the implementing acts issued to it in their current form applies and will apply, meaning that:

• the only body authorized to issue certificates (the certifying body) in Poland is the Office of Technical Inspection (UDT); certificates issued by institutions other than UDT are invalid;
• certificates issued to date are valid and remain valid under the terms on which they were issued;
• personnel certification covers only work with F-gases, and the “new” certification — covering, in addition to F-gases, refrigerants such as carbon dioxide (R744), hydrocarbons (including propane R290), and ammonia (R717) — does not yet apply in Poland.

Confusion over terminology

In Poland, there currently exist valuable, universal competence-certification systems that constitute objective confirmation of the competence of people working in the refrigeration, air-conditioning, and heat-pump industry. Obtaining such a certificate may be crucial, for example, for people employed in international organizations or interested in an objective confirmation of their competence (e.g. for the purposes of tender procedures or in line with an investor’s requirements). One example is certification carried out according to the PN-EN ISO 22712 standard. It constitutes uniform guidelines of international scope, covering the activities and competence profiles of personnel performing work related to the refrigeration circuit of refrigeration, air-conditioning, and heat-pump equipment and installations, broken down by individual groups of refrigerants. In Poland, certification under this scheme is carried out by, for example, the Central Refrigeration Centre in Kraków [6].

Competence certificates obtained under such a scheme should, however, be distinguished from personnel certificates awarded under the F-gas Act (the fundamental differences are given in Table 1).

Regulation 2024/2225 does, admittedly, provide for a mechanism of exemption from the examination, or taking the examination in a limited scope, if the person applying for the certificate has previously acquired qualifications, skills, and knowledge equivalent to those required in the regulation [2]. Today, however, we do not know whether the Polish legislator will decide to allow the certifying body to introduce such a mechanism — and, if it did, in what way the person applying for the certificate would be able to confirm the qualifications, skills, and knowledge acquired. Therefore, it must be clearly emphasized that at present no competence certificate offers a guarantee that the person holding it will be exempt from the obligation to obtain or expand a personnel certificate once the new certification system takes effect in Poland.

Beware of “certification” too!

On the Polish market, one can come across offers suggesting that a given body (as a training and assessment centre) provides training, and even examinations, compliant with the “new” certification. At present, no training — including that touted as “the only one in Poland” — prepares candidates for an examination in accordance with the new EU regulations (i.e. the F-gas Regulation and Implementing Regulation 2024/2215) for a very simple reason: there are as yet no Polish legal acts on the basis of which a certifying body authorized to issue certificates could be designated — a body that, in turn, establishes and applies the procedures for issuing, suspending, and withdrawing certificates [2]. For the same reason, there is currently no “mandatory” (legally regulated) certificate in Poland required for work with, for example, flammable refrigerants (safety group A3).

How to obtain the “new” certificate today

For people in whose work the use of new personnel certificates is important (e.g. those working in international companies or in other EU countries), there is a certain, fully lawful, avenue. In Poland, as in other EU countries, on the basis of the principle of mutual recognition, certificates issued in another EU member state by that country’s certifying body are valid. Spain and Slovakia, among others, already have their own certification systems — so a Polish citizen, by obtaining a certificate in one of these countries, already possesses a document valid for the next 7 years throughout the entire European Union, without the need for re-verification once the Polish act enters into force.

The possibility of updating an F-gas certificate and obtaining a category A1 certificate (covering work with F-gases and hydrocarbons) under the rules of Slovak certification was proposed to the first group of trainees in April 2026 by the PROZON Climate Protection Foundation. This is a continuation of the actions of 2014, when — on the same basis (and for the same reasons, i.e. the absence of Polish legal acts, inexorably approaching deadlines, and a ready certification system) — the first certificates held by Polish technicians were issued by a Slovak certifying body.

The institution cooperating with the PROZON Foundation is the Slovenský zväz pre chladenie, klimatizáciu a tepelné čerpadlá (the Slovak Association for Refrigeration, Air Conditioning, and Heat Pumps) — not only on account of the positive experiences to date. The Slovak certification system is very demanding, so the certificate obtained constitutes an actual confirmation of competence with regard to all the activities provided for in Article 2(1) in relation to fluorinated greenhouse gases and hydrocarbons [2]. The Slovak scheme comprises training, a demanding and transparent theoretical examination, a task-based examination (according to printed installation diagrams), a practical examination on equipment, and a subsequent discussion of the task results and the practical examination by the examiner and the trainee.

“We have established cooperation with a reputable certifying body in Slovakia that places emphasis on the knowledge and safety of technicians’ work. Like them, we focus on the practical part of the training, during which each participant performs tasks on real refrigeration systems, gaining the confidence and skills essential for safe work,” said Kamila Klubińska, Head of the Training Department at the PROZON Foundation.

The training and examination procedure takes place at the PROZON Foundation’s premises under online supervision by experts from the Slovak partner, and the people training and examining on the Polish side (Poles) are official trainers of the Slovak partner. The certificate is issued by the Slovak body. This unusual, yet proven, solution can help in the efficient and reliable certification of a large group of technicians awaiting the appropriate legal basis in Poland.

Expert commentary

Dominik Zasada — head of the refrigerants department at Linde Gas, one of the three founders of the PROZON Climate Protection Foundation:

The validity of the current F-gas certificates will soon expire, and there are still no Polish regulations on the basis of which installers could fulfil the obligation of new certification. We can, of course, take offence at the regulations as unfair — we’ve only just been certified, and already we have to do it all over again! — but that does not release us from complying with them. The legislator, as we in the industry appeal, should adapt our regulations to the applicable European legislation as soon as possible. The inconsistency of these two legal orders greatly hampers the day-to-day functioning of reputable companies that would like to run a business in accordance with the principles of legality and business ethics.

In supporting the industry, PROZON — as a pioneering training and examination centre — has once again decided to support the certification process in an innovative model. We are enabling people to obtain a Slovak category A1 certificate (F-gases and hydrocarbons) in a model similar to our initiative of 12 years ago. Back then, F-gas certification was entering the legal order and, as today, Slovakia prepared a legal act implementing the EU F-gas Regulation much earlier than Poland. I myself took part in the first training in 2014. Today I judge that it was an enormous opportunity for entrepreneurs to adapt smoothly to a changing reality and to meet the new regulations.

The Slovaks take a very ambitious approach to verifying installers’ competence, which is close to PROZON’s values. Under the F-gas Regulation, extending a certificate’s validity and supplementing competence may take place through supplementary training or a re-examination. The Slovaks chose the examination — this is a greater challenge for installers, but in the case of flammable refrigerants, verifying the knowledge acquired is simply safer for the specialists themselves and their clients. We do, of course, reckon with possible voices of criticism that we are making things harder and not levelling the playing field — but we “merely” remember what a lack of knowledge and environmental awareness leads to. We do not reach for half-measures, just as we cannot build a half-good installation for flammable gases.

As PROZON, we hope to persuade many specialists to tackle certification today, because there is little time until 2029 and there are many people subject to this obligation. The problem of illegal practices in certification may arise again — but I would ask: why take part in it? Anyone who decides to buy a certificate — but also, for example, to buy an illegal refrigerant (which is likewise a significant problem in the industry) — thereby decides to run a business unlawfully. And business ethics does not permit that.

Table 1. Comparison of competence certificates and personnel certificates issued under the F-gas Act

Source: own elaboration.

References

1. Regulation (EU) 2024/573 of the European Parliament and of the Council on fluorinated greenhouse gases, amending Directive (EU) 2019/1937 and repealing Regulation (EU) No. 517/2014 (OJ EU L 150 of 20.5.2014, pp. 195–230).
2. Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2215 of 6 September 2024 establishing, on the basis of Regulation (EU) 2024/573 of the European Parliament and of the Council, the minimum requirements for issuing certificates to natural and legal persons and the conditions for the mutual recognition of such certificates with regard to stationary refrigeration, air-conditioning, and heat-pump equipment, organic Rankine cycles, and refrigeration units of refrigerated trucks, refrigerated trailers, refrigerated vans, intermodal containers, and railway wagons containing fluorinated greenhouse gases or alternative solutions, and repealing Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2067 (OJ EU L, 2024/2215, 9.9.2024).
3. Act of 15 May 2015 on substances that deplete the ozone layer and on certain fluorinated greenhouse gases (consolidated text: Journal of Laws 2020, item 2065).
4. Regulation of the Minister of Development and Finance of 7 December 2017 on the examination and certification of personnel in the field of fluorinated greenhouse gases and controlled substances (Journal of Laws 2017, item 2402).
5. Regulation (EU) 517/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 April 2014 on fluorinated greenhouse gases and repealing Regulation (EC) No. 842/2006 (OJ EU L 150 of 20.5.2014, pp. 195–230).
6. Gratkowski Miłosz, Szczepański Bogdan: Competence of personnel in the field of refrigeration, air conditioning, and heat pumps in accordance with ISO 22712, “Rynek Instalacyjny” 2025, 10.
7. Office of Technical Inspection, Register of personnel certificates, https://www.udt.gov.pl/wykazy/REJ_FGAZ.html (accessed: 15.05.2026).
8. How to adapt the certification system of individuals and companies operating in the refrigeration and air-conditioning sector to the requirements of Regulation 2024/573 on F-gases? Materials from a discussion meeting, 4.10.2024.
9. Materials from companies and institutions: Central Refrigeration Centre, National Refrigeration Forum, Polish Association for the Development of Heat Pump Technology, PROZON Climate Protection Foundation, Office of Technical Inspection, Energy Regulatory Office.

Source: Joanna Ryńska (with commentary by Dominik Zasada, Linde Gas / PROZON), “Rynek Instalacyjny” 5/2026. rynekinstalacyjny.pl

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